Greetings from Luanshya!
Last week's College and Career class was spectacular. The young people discussed Daniel 8-World Powers In Conflict. God gave Daniel the unique opportunity of looking into the future. That future became very personal. The first seven chapters stressed the destinies of the Gentile world powers. Chapters 8-12 emphasizes the destiny of Israel. The view of the Ram and the Goat were eye openers to the young people in retrospect to chapter 7 and chapter 2. As we prepare for chapter 9 (the 70 seven's) we look forward to much more enthusiasm in discussion. Pray for the group study.
Sunday morning my young protégé, John, spoke again. Sherry and I are so proud of his development as a gifted preacher and his spiritual growth as a whole. His topic was "Your Dream Home". He described our mansion in heaven in comparison to our greatest expectation of a mansion here on earth. The congregation was enthralled as he presented the Word of God and encouraged those of us that are believers to remember that we are but pilgrims in this world awaiting our journey "home". He also presented a challenge to those who do not know Christ. They ought to prepare their souls to meet the Saviour as time is too short to procrastinate.
We have concluded the school holiday movie festival at the Christian Resource Centre. The children who participated enjoyed the presentations and very often came into the library to read books or ask about the correspondence lessons. Colin, also, enjoyed spending time with children and serving as a guide to the Christian Resource Centre. If all works out well, perhaps we will see some of these children at the Vacation Bible School program in December.
Several months ago I (Patrick) bit my tongue while eating breakfast. This is not ordinarily a dangerous exercise, but the wound became irritated. Three weeks ago I noticed a white bump (for lack of an appropriate medical term) on my tongue and went to see our local doctor. He said I needed to see a maxilo facial surgeon, but there are none in Zambia. Therefore I had to go to South Africa. I made the appointment and left within days to see the surgeon in Johannesburg. His comment was that the lesion did "not seem sinister" but needed to be removed and a biopsy should be done. He did this in the hospital there.
The biopsy showed a carcinoma - bad news. He said it was very rare in non-smokers, but he said the initial wound had reacted with an older filling in my mouth. He also mentioned "acid reflux" in my stomach (evidenced by "heart burn") that probably added to the condition. He has sent me to yet another surgeon who did a CT scan of my mouth and neck. There did not appear to be a further problem with the tongue, but to make sure that all of the cancer cells are completely removed from my tongue a substantial amount of tissue was to be removed. Also, a few lymph nodes in my neck were enlarged so they were to be removed as well and a biopsy performed. This was done on Friday, 26th August. The second surgeon said everything "looked fine" and the swelling of the lymph nodes was probably due to the irritation caused by the first surgery. Still, the second biopsy results are not in yet. I'll know more on Thursday.
The four-inch scar on my neck looks pretty gruesome at the moment, but the surgeon said it would not be "too bad" after the swelling went down. If the laboratory finds "something" in the tissue from my neck, then I will be in South Africa for six weeks receiving radiation therapy. This is not likely (according to the surgeon), but possible. Please pray about this situation. We know who is in control and our ministry continues regardless of the outcome.
God has blessed and God allows the challenges in our lives sometimes to reach other people and sometimes to build our own character. Thank you for your prayers on our behalf.
Together in His Service,
Patrick & Sherry
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This is a regular (almost) update of the multi-faceted ministry of Patrick and Sherry Coleman who serve the Lord in Zambia, Africa.
About Us
Patrick was born and raised in the Los Angeles area of California. He moved to Lubumbashi, Zaire, (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1985. In 1991 he was evacuated from Lubumbashi because of civil unrest. Patrick based his family in Luanshya, Zambia.
Sherry was born and raised in a Jewish home in New Jersey. She came to know the Lord as her Messiah and personal Saviour when she was 17. She came to Zambia in 1990 to administrate a correspondence Bible school. She also taught in area schools and in churches.
They met and were married on August 1, 1997.
Today both Patrick and Sherry Coleman serve the Lord together in Zambia. Their ministry responsibilities have grown. They own and operate the Lighthouse Children's Home with six AIDS orphans, they have opened their personal library to the public in Luanshya through the Christian Resource Centre, Sherry still has a correspondence Bible school and Patrick still works with local church leaders as well as serving in leadership at Fellowship Chapel in Luanshya.
Note from the Web Guy
Greetings from the Web presence of the Coleman Ministry. Please check the archives for any posts you may have missed.
This is the Colemans' oldest son, who is responsible for this website. My father refers to himself as "Technologically Reclined". Despite my best efforts to make posting to this site as easy and quick as possible, he insists on using the worst method available and occasionally forgetting to notify me for more than a year.As a result, sometimes posts get added in the background. They do not hit the front page, which only shows the latest update I have received, reformatted, and republished. As of this writing, I have a dozen posts to put up and back-date, and more coming in. I estimate that I will finish this effort by late July. Maybe not this year, but it will be a July.
So please, peruse the archives.